The present invention relates to a method of automating a loading and unloading of container ships in container terminals by means of a container crane, and to a crane automation system for controlling operation of the container crane.
A crane automation system is used to control the container crane for transporting containers between the container ships and a repository location in a container storage area of the container terminal. During loading and unloading of container ships, the crane operator or the automation system of the container crane must be informed about the container to be loaded or unloaded. Typically, while the stowage plan of a container ship is transmitted electronically from the departure port to the destination port, the crane operator receives cargo lists in paper form before commencing the loading or unloading operations. It is thus up to the crane operator alone to decide the sequence of transports between the container ship and the repository location. Another approach involves the deck crew on the container ship to radio the desired sequence to the crane operator. Not only increases this approach the need for personnel but the unloading and loading operations of a container ship become very time-consuming. In either case, the error rate during loading and unloading is comparably high.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved method of automating the loading and unloading of container ships in container terminals, to obviate prior art shortcomings and to enable a loading and unloading between container ships, on the one hand, and a repository location or locations in a storage area of a container terminal, on the other hand, in a substantially automated manner while optimizing the movements of a container crane for loading and unloading operations.